Cattle
Buyers Weekly
each week provides news and analysis of key industry issues and developments. It
asks questions about what these mean to the industry,

and
seeks answers on behalf of its readers.
Subjects
covered include:

food
safety issues

legislative
and regulatory developments

environmental
and workplace issues

industry
political developments

new
pricing mechanisms for livestock and meat

latest
technological developments

Here’s an excerpt from a
recent story.

“Assertions
by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service overthe prevalence of E.coli O157:H7 in feedlot cattle and ground beef appear to
be seriously flawed. FSIS says about half the cattle in the nation’s feedlots
have the pathogen. Furthermore, it claims an estimated 89% of U.S. beef ground
into patties contains some E.coli O157:H7. The assertions emerged again at a
meeting last week and received wide media coverage. But industry officials
immediately questioned the data and FSIS’s assertions. The assertions
apparently are not what another USDA agency, the Agricultural Research Service,
actually found in its study last July-August. FSIS’s assumptions are said to
have angered ARS scientists. They have also created a misleading impression that
the pathogen poses a more significant public health hazard than it actually
does, say industry officials.”